With a new album in the works, Randall Shreve is pushing onward with his personal vision of vaudeville as expressed with his four-piece band, the Sideshow.

For Shreve, vaudeville is not a certain style; it’s more about the images and sounds of an era, such as old-time circuses and carnivals and Charlie Chaplin movies with prominent stride piano.

“I’m really influenced by Chaplin as an entertainer, and a lot of others who aren’t even musical,” said Shreve, who is based in Fayetteville, Ark., but performs so frequently here that he might as well be local. He and the Sideshow will play tonight at the Outland Ballroom, 326 South Ave. Among the songs in this show will be new material that will appear on an album aimed for release later this year.

While vaudeville suggests song, dance, variety and comedy acts, Shreve’s approach brings a jolt of stage presence, vocal power and dynamic arrangements, along with a shadow of mystery. Some listeners say his songs are creepy, he said.

“If it’s screaming, or the loud, intense moments, it’s just that intensity that I always sing with, just feeling the music, feeling the song,” Shreve said. “So, I think the music is definitely intense, and then there’s the creepy element. That’s something that I don’t think I can explain.”

A Shreve song such as “Strange” is no stranger than any other tune from the last few decades. Maybe the grandiose treatment layered over unfamiliar vintage sounds throws some listeners for a loop. For others, his work is an unexpected pleasure.

Shreve said the band’s pianist, Timothy Grace, suggested that the creepy factor comes from Shreve’s fondness for half tones (dissonance). “Whatever I’m doing, it’s almost an accident,” Shreve said. However, most of his work is carefully calculated as it often develops from ideas to demos that all the musicians develop into fully realized songs.

One example of this process is the vaudeville-steeped “Welcome to the Show.” Shreve was at wit’s end, unable to work out the piano part he heard in his head. Before scrapping the song altogether, he asked Grace to try to save it.

A performance by Randall Shreve and the Sideshow adds thicker layers of theatricality than audiences typically encounter — greater attention to wardrobe, a little choreography, some makeup, all of which adds dramatic punch to the music and lyrics. These layers are as much for the musicians’ enjoyment as for the effect on the audience, Shreve said.

“We’re doing this every night, so at the very least, with all the time we’re putting into it, and all the effort we’re putting into it, and all it has cost us, we may as well feel good while we’re doing it,” he said.

Ed Peaco writes about locally grown Ozarks music for the News-Leader. Contact him at 417-413-9029 or EdPeaco@gmail.com